Jesus and His disciples left the temple and went to the Mount of Olives opposite
the temple. Jesus told the disciples about two future events - the destruction
of the temple and His second coming. Matthew, Mark and Luke discuss the two
events together rather than in chronological order, and in some places it is
not clear which event is being discussed.

The early Christians eagerly awaited
Jesus' return. They expected it to come at any moment despite Jesus' warning
that no one but God knows the "day and hour." The destruction of the temple
did occur in 70 A.D., but we are still waiting for Jesus to return.

1. Jesus had previously hinted at the destruction of the temple. Now he told His
disciples in plain language that the temple would be destroyed and "not one
stone here will be left on another" (Matthew
24:1-3, Mark 13:1-4, Luke
21:5-7). The prediction was accurate. After the Romans sacked Jerusalem
in 70 A.D., all that was left of the magnificent temple was part of the base
it was built on - the "Wailing Wall" that is now a holy site for Jews.

This
prediction prompted the disciples to ask several questions of Jesus. What were
they?

3. a) What warnings did Jesus give His disciples about the cost of being His follower?
(See Matthew 24:9-14, Mark
13:9-13, Luke 21:12-19.)b) What lessons do these warnings
have for Christians of today?

4. The "abomination that causes desolation" (Matthew
24:15-22, Mark 13:14-20, Luke
21:20-24) is a reference to the prophecy in Daniel
9:25-27, 11:31, 12:11.
That prophecy was fulfilled in 167 B.C. when Antiochus Epiphanes, king of Syria,
banned the practice of Judaism and desecrated the temple by sacrificing a pig
to Zeus on the temple altar. Jesus predicted a similar event before the destruction
of the temple and warned His followers to flee the city when it occurred.

Jesus'
prediction was accurate. The historian Josephus recorded that the Romans killed
over a million Jews and took another 100,000 captive when they attacked Judea
and destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in 70 A.D. It was only by fleeing that
Jesus' followers survived.

a) Did Jesus know exactly when the destruction
of the temple would occur?b) How did Jesus reassure His disciples that
God would still be in control, despite the horror of those days?